Armed Forces: Courts Martial

Lord Hoyle: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether any court martial of British prisoners of war took place in prisoner of war camps.

Lord Drayson: Although British forces in enemy prisoner of war camps did conduct disciplinary proceedings in several instances during the Second World War, the legal position, reflecting the international convention governing prisoner of war matters, was that these proceedings could not constitute courts martial under British regulations.

Energy: Wind Turbines

Lord Judd: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When the report by Mr David Rose on the public inquiry into the proposal to site 27 wind turbines at Whinash in Cumbria will be received; and when they plan to take a decision on whether or not to approve the proposal.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: Mr Rose submitted his report on 3 February 2006. The content of his report is currently being considered and our decision will be announced as soon as practicable.

Fishing: Drift Nets

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What formal approaches have been made to the Government of the Irish Republic about the impact of Irish salmon drift nets on British salmon stocks; and what has been the response.

Lord Bach: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Mr Bradshaw) has discussed this issue with the Irish Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources on a number of occasions. He has urged on the Irish Minister the need to take steps to reduce the impact of the salmon drift net fishery on salmon returning to English and Welsh rivers. In response, the Irish Minister recognised the need to take account of scientific advice on the impact of Irish salmon drift net fisheries on riverine stocks, but also stressed the socio-economic importance of the net fishery in areas where other forms of employment are scarce.

House of Lords: Foreign Language Courses

Lord Harrison: asked the Chairman of Committees:
	What foreign language courses funded by the House are available to staff of the House of Lords.

Lord Brabazon of Tara: French language classes, run by the Institut Franc"ais, are available to staff of the House of Lords, and are aimed primarily at those who require a working knowledge of foreign languages for their duties. These lessons are paid for from House funds as part of the training budget. In the recent past one member of staff has also run Spanish conversation classes for colleagues.

House of Lords: Foreign Language Courses

Lord Harrison: asked the Chairman of Committees:
	What percentage of staff of the House participate in foreign language courses funded in whole or in part by the House of Lords.

Lord Brabazon of Tara: At present 36 members of staff, comprising 7.9 per cent of the total staff of the House, participate in foreign language courses funded by the House.

NHS: Litigation Authority

Baroness Barker: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What (a) cost-related and (b) financial targets they expect the NHS Litigation Authority to meet each year; and how successful the authority has been in meeting these targets in each of the past five years.

Lord Warner: The Department of Health set five performance targets for the NHS Litigation Authority, which are reviewed annually. Two are cost-related: (i) the ratio of costs to damages and (ii) the costs of claims handling. Additionally, the NHSLA is required to manage its budgets within available resource limits. The NHSLA has either achieved or surpassed all the targets set in each year for the past five years.
	The NHSLA is also contributing to the delivery of cash-releasing savings and efficiency targets set by the arm's-length bodies (ALB) review of 2004. This review will deliver £500 million per annum savings for redistribution to front-line health and social care by 2008 through the rationalisation of the ALB sector from 38 to 20 ALBs and improved procurement frameworks for the NHS.

Railways: King's Cross

Lord Berkeley: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the estimated cost of fitting out the King's Cross box for Thameslink services; how the work will be financed; whether the work has been authorised by the Government; and when the work will be carried out.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Secretary of State announced the go-ahead of the fit-out of the new Thameslink station at King's Cross/St Pancras on 8 February 2006. The project is planned to be completed by the end of 2007. The fit-out of the station is estimated to cost £63.5 million at 2003 prices. The work will be undertaken by London and Continental Railways, and then purchased by Network Rail using funds allocated from the regulatory asset base.

Waste Management

Lord Vinson: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many additional inspectors will be needed to enforce the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005; and
	How much of the additional waste collected under the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 will be disposed of by (a) recycling, (b) landfill, and (c) incineration; and, of the waste that will be incinerated, what percentage will be used for (i) heating, or (ii) power generation; and
	Whether a regulatory impact assessment was made of the costs of implementing the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005; and, if so, what was the outcome; and
	In light of the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005, whether they have calculated the impact on carbon emissions of compelling farmers to transport plastic bottles to authorised disposers rather than incinerating them on site; and
	Given that farmers may no longer incinerate plastic bottles on their farms, whether the same restrictions will apply to householders living within the curtilage of these farms.

Lord Bach: A draft of the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 was issued for public consultation but the regulations have not yet been made and laid before Parliament. The consultation paper is available on the department's website at www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/agwaste-regs/consultation.pdf.
	Following that consultation, and an adverse judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on infraction proceedings by the European Commission against the UK, we are now finalising the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2006. The main purpose of the forthcoming regulations is to repeal the exclusion in Section 75(7)(c) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and to apply to agricultural waste the national controls that are already in place to comply with the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) and the Landfill Directive. Our aim is to make and lay the regulations before Parliament by 31 March 2006. The regulations will apply to the agricultural industry the controls that already apply to all other sectors of industry.
	The consultation paper published with the draft regulations included at Annexe 1 a partial regulatory impact assessment (RIA). A full RIA will be published when the final regulations are made and laid before Parliament. The consultation paper set out in Chapter 3 the five basic options available to farmers for the disposal or recovery of their agricultural waste when the regulations come into force. It is a matter for decision by individual farmers which of these options they use.
	For this reason, the Government have made no estimate of the amounts of agricultural waste which farmers will dispose of by recycling, landfilling or incineration; or, of the agricultural waste that will be incinerated, what percentage will be used for heating or power generation. The environmental and health benefits of ending on-farm disposal practices such as the open burning of non-natural agricultural waste (e.g. plastic bottles) are discussed in Section 3 of the RIA published with the consultation paper. The RIA estimates total agricultural waste arisings of 355,304 tonnes p.a. (England and Wales) and states in paragraph 10.2 that the department's assumptions, for the purposes of estimating the cost of the proposed regulations, are that:
	None of the farm dumps which are currently used to dispose of agricultural waste will be able to meet the standards required by the Landfill Directive;
	98 per cent of farmers will decide to consign their agricultural waste for disposal off-farm; and
	all such waste will be consigned for disposal at licensed landfill site.
	Article 13 of the WFD requires establishments or undertakings which operate under the terms of a permit/licence authorising the disposal or recovery of waste, or a registered permit/licence exemption, to be subject to appropriate periodic inspections by the competent authorities (e.g. the Environment Agency). I understand that the Environment Agency intends to fulfil this requirement in relation to agricultural waste through efficiencies gained from its Integrated Inspection of Agriculture project rather than by engaging additional inspectors.
	Private householders are not "establishments or undertakings" for the purposes of the WFD and are not therefore subject to the directive's permit/licence requirements. However, the ECJ's judgment on the WFD infraction found that the UK had failed to fulfil its obligations in relation to Article 4 of the directive and the disposal of household waste within the curtilage of domestic properties The proposed regulations will therefore amend Section 33(1)(c) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to make it an offence for a householder to dispose of household waste within the curtilage of a domestic property in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health.

Waste Management

Lord Vinson: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Under the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 what is the anticipated additional cost to (a) local authorities, and (b) others in cleaning up fly-tipping waste.

Lord Bach: A draft of the Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 was issued for public consultation but the regulations have not yet been made and laid before Parliament. The main purpose of the proposed regulations is to repeal the exclusion in Section 75(7)(c) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and to apply to agricultural waste the national controls that are already in place to comply with the Waste Framework Directive and the Landfill Directive. The regulations have no direct cost implications for local authorities or others in cleaning up fly-tipped waste.
	Legislative powers are already in place to deal with fly-tipping incidents, including recovering costs involved in clearing the waste. The Government have implemented a range of further measures through the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 as part of their fly-tipping strategy to assist local authorities and the Environment Agency in dealing with fly-tipped waste.